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Unofficial Proposals For Toronto Highway Expansions

Wrenkin said:
How would this work? Bayview already has a bridge there. Would you perhaps run a sloping viaduct up under Bayview, behind Toronto French School? It would be a bit awkward for traffic coming from the East and continuing north on Bayview.
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I'd run north along the edge of the French School, and under Bayview. Perhaps the Bayview bridge is already long enough here? No new interchange with Bayview ... those turning on and off through Bayview would use existing Lawrence E. Someone coming from Scarborough on Lawrence would continue to use Post Road to go north, and those going south would go under Bayview, and turn left on the existing Lawrence East to connect to Bayview.

Seriously impacts the French School though ...
 
Wrenkin said:
How would this work? Bayview already has a bridge there. Would you perhaps run a sloping viaduct up under Bayview, behind Toronto French School? It would be a bit awkward for traffic coming from the East and continuing north on Bayview.
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The buses already go 2/3 of the way from Leslie to Bayview, so the final portion is not that much extra. You could have Leslie (from the east) just joint the east side of the Bayview/Don River Bridge, or just north of it. Google show the elevation difference between the valley floor and the north end of the bridge as 8m or so.

btw. Where can I find a map of Toronto with contour lines. I know I have seen it (and used it) before, but could not find it now.
 
Annoying the people in the Bridle Path mansions or the houses to the west of TFS is one thing. These plans would variously affect TFS itself, Crescent School, and the Granite Club, all of which have a large number of influential friends. And Glendon is a provincially-regulated university. I don't think they would let this happen if the road was intended to plow through campus, and I don't know that the city would have any power to demand otherwise.
 
I quite like the Post Road/Bridle Path connector to Lawrence East. There's nothing like turning up the music and cruising 70 an hour on the Bridle Path. The speed bumps seem to be more ornamental than anything. It wouldn't be the same experience on an ordinary suburban arterial. The Post Road/Bridle Path connector is a random through-street on what really should be a quiet side street lined with mansions, and that seems European. They planners weren't going to go to extraordinary lengths to accommodate drivers, so they said fuck it the city will flow through Post Road and the Bridle Path to the other side of Lawrence. I hope the rich build even grander mansions for the masses to enjoy as they drive by.
 
junctionist said:
I quite like the Post Road/Bridle Path connector to Lawrence East. There's nothing like turning up the music and cruising 70 an hour on the Bridle Path. The speed bumps seem to be more ornamental than anything. It wouldn't be the same experience on an ordinary suburban arterial. The Post Road/Bridle Path connector is a random through-street on what really should be a quiet side street lined with mansions, and that seems European. They planners weren't going to go to extraordinary lengths to accommodate drivers, so they said fuck it the city will flow through Post Road and the Bridle Path to the other side of Lawrence. I hope the rich build even grander mansions for the masses to enjoy as they drive by.
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Agreed. I enjoy driving through The Bridle Path when I'm heading over to Lawrence Park to visit family. Though it's depressing to drive around LP now, with all the McMansions sucking the soul out of the neighbourhood.
 
On my fantasy map, I proposed light rail along Lawrence East due to high ridership and how prominent it is in the city's "Avenues" plan. It would be a great corridor for higher order transit. Also to close gap in Toronto's transit grid. So I think that "Lawrence Link" should be 6 lanes instead of four lane, with two lanes for light rail of course.
 
Building new freeways to downtown in general are just absurd fantasies. This city doesn't have the capacity to accept more cars, so the cost would be the least of your problems. The 448 idea is especially outlandish because the DWP doesn't have the capacity, let alone the rest of the city. You simply can't drop down roads wherever, if you want to make things easier for drivers, then improve existing roads. A much better use for hydro corridors would be new railroads for GO trains, because the best way to fight traffic is by getting more cars off the road. Regardless, building new freeways is a thing of the past anyway.
 
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Ervin said:
Building new freeways to downtown in general are just absurd fantasies. This city doesn't have the capacity to accept more cars, so the cost would be the least of your problems. The 448 idea is especially outlandish because the DWP doesn't have the capacity, let alone the rest of the city. You simply can't drop down roads wherever, if you want to make things easier for drivers, then improve existing roads. A much better use for hydro corridors would be new railroads for GO trains, because the best way to fight traffic is by getting more cars off the road. Regardless, building new freeways is a thing of the past anyway.
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Exactly!

Why did Toronto not suffer the same fate as most American cities? Freeways do not crisscross Toronto much at all (aside from the Gardiner, the DVP, and the 401), allowing many neighbourhoods downtown to remain.

I am a fan of the late Jane Jacobs, the urban visionary.
 
Johnny Au said:
Exactly!

Why did Toronto not suffer the same fate as most American cities? Freeways do not crisscross Toronto much at all (aside from the Gardiner, the DVP, and the 401), allowing many neighbourhoods downtown to remain.
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Or perhaps Freeways do not crisscross Toronto due to Toronto residents being culturally different? Perhaps culturally different enough that this fate could not have occurred, even if the freeways were rammed through by outside forces?

Some cities, like Paris, have numerous freeways yet have also not suffered that fate.

I like Jacobs. I'm not convinced she sufficiently defined causation though she did a pretty good job with correlation. For example, it may be easier to build freeways in areas which have begun economic decline. It was certainly easy to flatten much of the Toronto chinese slum area to build City Hall in the 60's.
 
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rbt said:
Or perhaps Freeways do not crisscross Toronto due to Toronto residents being culturally different? Perhaps culturally different enough that this fate could not have occurred, even if the freeways were rammed through by outside forces?

Some cities, like Paris, have numerous freeways yet have also not suffered that fate.

I like Jacobs. I'm not convinced she sufficiently defined causation though she did a pretty good job with correlation. For example, it may be easier to build freeways in areas which have begun economic decline. It was certainly easy to flatten much of the Toronto chinese slum area to build City Hall in the 60's.
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Paris is getting rid of some of its freeways. See link.
 
devjohnson said:
That tunnel would be a mess to build, but would add much needed relief. As the city gets bigger, something has to be done - even if it will be a messy construction process.
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If by "much needed relief" you mean that it would become as clogged as the DVP the day it opened and increase traffic on all feeder routes.
 
Silence&Motion said:
If by "much needed relief" you mean that it would become as clogged as the DVP the day it opened and increase traffic on all feeder routes.
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And they'll need parking spaces for the additional cars, motorcycles, SUVs, trucks, etc. they would bring in. Just a waste of real estate for store a couple tons of metal, glass, rubber, and plastic for 8 hours each day (each).
 
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